


Vacant and Stained

by phylavell



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, F/M, Gen, Mental Instability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 07:39:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3561614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phylavell/pseuds/phylavell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"I shouldn't have been in the city. I shouldn't have walked in."</i>
  <br/>
  <i>"I'm sorry you did."</i>
  <br/>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vacant and Stained

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in love w/ the idea of these two being the last two people on earth. This has nothing to do with the last story I posted that's also post-apocalyptic. I'm just trying to branch out in the post-apocalyptic scenario. It's also 3 am so there's that.
> 
> Again no beta and no idea. Though this might be expanded.

His eyes focus on the road as he speeds down the empty freeway at what he thinks is ninety miles per hour and increasing. He tries not to think of what he’s left behind and especially not of what he’s just witnessed. He knows she’s sitting there in the passenger seat and that she is just as numb to the velocity of the vehicle as he is. He assumes she’s counting on his recklessness to get them killed.

Unfortunately for them both, he’s good with disaster. They continue on the road in absolute silence until the sun begins to set and he’s forced to pull up to the blocked exit. Without a word he watches as her shaking hands reach for the door handle and pulls. He watches her nervously open the door and step out of the car. He follows suit, her vacant expression seeming to stick in his memory.

The city they exited in is one outside of Gotham City limits. He doesn’t know the exact name but he does know that it’ll have to do for the night. Otherwise he’s not sure if they’d survive the night. She might have had a death wish, but he didn’t. Not yet anyway.

He follows behind her, lightly leading her by the shoulder when he feels she’s going off track. They end up finding a set of gated apartments. He assumes he’s more of a danger than what may lurk inside. He climbs the electric fence with ease, knowing fully well that any city within New Jersey was out of power. Wayne Manor had survived because Bruce had external power sources.

As he climbs down the fence she stares in his direction. He knows she’s not watching him. He knows that she’s seeing someone else’s face. He just wishes he hadn’t seen it too.

He opens the gated door and she slowly steps in. He leads her up the small staircase, watchful of anything that may jump out at them. He finds one on the second floor. It lunges at him, crazed eyes that made the joker look sane. He fights back with a vengeance. He leads it to a balcony and swiftly throws it off. Once the disease had set into the mind, some of the hosts turned feral. They never put up much offense.

He turns to find one approaching her and he finally breaks the silence that they had kept up for hours, “Barbara!” he yells. His voice is hoarse.

She responds instinctively. Her leg raises and in a flash she’s spun around and kicked it in the jaw. It staggers back and falls down the flight of stairs behind her. It stands up again and begins rushing up the stairs back to her. She pulls the gun she had at her waist and points it. Her hands are shaking more than before.

In an instant he’s at her side, wrapping his arms around hers and steadying her hands on the trigger, “Do it,” he whispers. She doesn’t.

He releases her and takes the knife in his pocket and jams it into the creature’s throat. It reaches upward to attempt to grab at his hands as he kicks it down the stairs again. He follows it and this time shoves the knife into its skull. He repeats the motion until the image that has been replaying in his mind seems to dull.

He looks back up at her when he’s finished. She stares forward. He sighs and decides that’s the floor they’ll be staying on before leading her into one of the apartments. They find no hostiles but they do find a family. They’re bluish, bloated, and are huddled up in a child’s bedroom. He throws them off of the balcony, too.

The beds and heavy furniture in the home are used to prop the door shut. He returns to find her sitting on the sofa in a poised position. She stares forward with the gun in her lap. Her knuckles are white from the force she’s using as she holds the gun tightly to keep her hands from shaking.

He finally decides to do something as he moves forward to kneel in front of her. He tries to give her a sympathetic look as he brushes the red hair out of her face and attempts to wipe the dried blood from her face. He looks her in the eyes as he speaks, “Barbara.”

She doesn’t respond but she meets his gaze.

“You have to talk to me,” he leans forward and cups her face in his hands, “What happened to my brother?” he speaks with unplanned desperation. She blinks and leans backwards. He drops his hands and rests his hands on her knees as he continues to watch her. She looks down and shakes her head.

“I know what I saw and I need you to tell me what happened,” he leans forward again, his desperation rising and an unfamiliar feeling of dread pooling in his stomach. He feels his stomach turn as she speaks.

“It was a pact,” she says softly, “he would- and I would-”

His eyes widen slightly as she looks up to meet his gaze and whispers again, “I thought he would go through with it.”

He doesn’t say anything anymore. He stands and sits beside her before pulling her close to himself. She obliges and buries her face in his chest and finally releases choked sobs as he wraps his arms around her.

“I’m not supposed to be here,” she says through her sobs, “he promised.”

He doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t know what to say. It hit him as an initial shock that Dick Grayson of all people would have given up and that he would stoop to having someone else make the choice for him? It shocked him even more, but he was a detective after all. He had been trained to never see things as they were.

“Damian,” he whispers, “What happened to Damian?”

“They got him,” she says and he feels her shake against his chest.

“Tim?” he whispers.

“They took Alfred and Tim went after them, he never came back,” 

“Bruce,” he finally says, knowing that whatever came was the tip of the iceberg.

“They almost had Dick, and Bruce stepped in the way.”

“And he blamed himself,” Jason finishes. He feels her nod against his chest, “I shouldn’t have gone back. I should have never gone back to the manor,” he speaks to himself.

“I shouldn’t have been in the city. I should have never walked in,” his vision goes blurry as it dawns upon him that they are truly alone.

“I’m sorry you did,” she whispers. He doesn’t respond.

They remain there in silence and he begins tracing circles on her back. She doesn’t look back up at him. Her sobs quiet down and she falls asleep against his chest. He moves off of the sofa and lays her down as gently as he can before he moves to scour the house for anything they can take with them when they leave the house.

He finds a few tools and some cans of soup that he hopes he’ll have the appetite for. When he returns to the sofa he finds her still asleep and he throws a blanket on her before lying down on the ground beside the sofa. He rests his head against a pile of jumbled up sweaters and stares at the furniture and the door.

 

When he comes to his senses he’s not in the apartment anymore. He’s tied up in a chair and the Joker stands above him, crowbar in hand.

“What’doya say we have another go, Robin?!” he yells between his laughs. The clown steps round him and yells every time the crowbar connects with Jason’s body, “Bang!”

“Bang, again! Just like that brother of yours, what’s his name?” the clown laughs, “Of course! Nightwing!” 

Jason grunts and stares at the ground as another part of his body is struck by the crowbar.

“Offed himself, did he?” The Joker asks, “What’s that? No? _Batgirl_ offed him? Say it ain’t so?!” 

Jason opens his mouth to speak when the Joker strikes him in the face, “Bang!”

 

His eyes burst open and within seconds he stands and rushes to the small hallway after noticing the empty sofa. The bathroom lights are on. Panic floods his senses and he finds himself kicking the door down when Barbara doesn’t answer. He assumes the worst and curses in every language he knows as he finishes tearing down the door and his fears are presented to him.

She lies against the counter, motionless. He’s at her side in an instant as tears stream down his face, “You can’t leave me, too,” he takes a hold of her hand and bows his head and his tears pool on the tiled floor along with the blood.

He leans forward to clutch her body and breaks into sobs, “I went back to Gotham to find you all,” he explains to no one, “you were all I found.”

“Don’t leave me,” he pleads as his hands move upward to hold her face. Her eyes are vacant, stained with the blood vessels that were ruptured by the bullet that had gone up her skull.

He doesn’t know how long he spent in that bathroom. When he finally stands up he carries her body out the door and walks through daylight until he reaches the sports car hey had arrived in. She has a hole in her head that takes up the majority of where her mouth and nose were. He places his jacket over her face before starting the car. 

The gas pedal is light under his foot as he presses it down all the way.


End file.
